Walkability Action Institute - National Association of Chronic Disease Directors

Walkability Action Institute - National Association of Chronic Disease Directors

Experiential Institutes Lead To Walkability Goals

The Republic of Palau hosted a Walkability Institute in early  November. The two-day event led multi-sector stakeholders to  develop action plans around short- and long-term goals for  increasing walkability. In Palau, 73% of people are overweight  or have obesity and half of adults have low levels of physical  activity. Encouraging walking as an easy, low-cost solution is  challenging though, because most streets have no sidewalks  and most intersections have no crosswalks. The Institute was experiential, said Margaret West, public health  advisor in DNPAO’s Program Development and Evaluation  Branch who attended the Palau institute in early November. For  example, during a “walk audit,” participants found a street leading  to an elementary school with no sidewalk or dedicated lane for  pedestrians. That led to dangerous conditions for students walking  to school. A short-term solution would be delaying student pick-up  to let pedestrians clear the area first. A more permanent solution  would be creating a delineated walkway on the side of the road.  After the workshop, DNPAO staff provide monthly technical  assistance to a coalition of participants as well as support for  a pilot project.

Improving walkability has a three-fold impact, West noted. First,  it makes walking safer for pedestrians. Secondly, walking  increases physical activity which reduces the risk of chronic  diseases. Third, it helps improve air quality because people  drive cars for short trips when it is not safe or convenient to walk. Walkability Institutes in U.S. affiliated territories and jurisdictions  in the Pacific are coordinated by the Training Programs in  Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET)  through a cooperative agreement. Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands  have also hosted Walkability Institutes. The Walkability Institutes are modeled after the  Walkability Action Institute (WAI) funded by DNPAO and led by  the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors. In five  years, WAI has trained 51 interdisciplinary teams from 31 states  during annual courses. Often led by consultant Mark Fenton,  both WAI and the Walkability Institutes follow concepts developed  by the Montana Department of Health.